also known as Kentucky Daisey
(1855 - 1903)
An Oklahoma Land Run Pioneer Woman
Nannita Regina H. Daisey was born in Pennsylvania and orphaned at a young age. She was educated by and lived in the Sisters of the Good Shepherd Convent in St. Louis, Missouri.
She worked as a teacher in Kentucky and began a journalism career there fighting against the common gender discrimination against women seeking professional careers at the time. Eventually she moved to Oklahoma and participated in four Land Runs. She was active in the Guthrie, Oklahoma, where she resided, helping to initiate schools in new towns and assisting other women to claim homesteads.
Kentucky Daisey married a Scandinavian immigrant and United States Army soldier, Andreas E. J. Ueland Svegeborg. They were no children born to the marriage.
On 4 July 2007 (Independence Day) the town of Edmond, Oklahoma, unveiled a statue of Nannita Daisey, depicting her leaping from the cowcatcher at the front of a train. The statue, named "Leaping into History", was sculpted by the local artist, Mary Lou Gresham. It's estimated cost was $250,000 and was funded by the Edmond Parks Foundation, Inc., plus some centennial money and private donations. The statue stands 13 feet tall and 26 feet long and is made of bronze and Oklahoma red granite.
Additional info to be added soon.
